Record proportion of women in workforce

The proportion of women working in
the UK is at its highest level, according to research by the Office for
National Statistics.

It shows that nearly
70 per cent of women of working age, between 16 and 59, were working in spring 2000.
This places the UK behind only Denmark and Sweden in Europe.

Women now represent 45
per cent of the UK’s workforce, and 80 per cent of working women are permanent
employees.

Jenny Watson, deputy
chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said, "The increase in the
number of women in work is welcome but it is important that we look beyond the
overall figure and at what kind of work women are actually doing.

"Women are still concentrated
in a small number of low-paid jobs, many of them part-time. This is partly due
to outdated ideas about what is women’s work and partly because women still
tend to take on more caring responsibilities in the family."